Series Information

Title

Writing and Research Materials

Dates

1950–2006

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open with permission unless otherwise noted.

Ownership & Copyright

Copyright is retained by Henry A. Kissinger for works he has authored and provided during his lifetime to the Yale University Library. After the lifetime of Dr. Kissinger, all intellectual property rights, including without limitation all copyrights, in and to the works authored by Dr. Kissinger pass to Yale University, with the exception of all intellectual property rights, including without limitation all copyrights, motion picture and/or audio rights in and to his books, interviews and any films that will be retained by Dr. Kissinger’s heirs and assigns. Copyright status for collection materials other than those authored by Dr. Kissinger is unknown.

Except for the limited purposes allowed by the Yale University Library Guide to Using Special Collections, exploitation, including without limitation the reproduction, distribution, adaption, or display of Dr. Kissinger’s works protected by the U.S. Copyright Act (Title 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain shall not be commercially exploited without permission of Dr. Kissinger, the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Scope and Contents

The writings and research materials document Kissinger’s work as an author and commentator on foreign policy and international affairs after he left government service in 1977. The majority of materials are research files and most of those concern three books, the first and third volumes of his memoirs, White House Years (1977) and Years of Renewal (1999), and his history of international relations and statecraft Diplomacy (1994). The research files are comprised primarily of copies of telephone conversation transcripts, government records, and publications, often collated by topic and annotated by his research assistants and occasionally by Kissinger himself. There is little other drafting material like notes or outlines and no book or chapter drafts in these files. There is a separate section of files concerning a proposed PBS television series on diplomacy based on lectures he gave at Georgetown University in 1980 which was apparently never produced.

Writings in this series consist of Kissinger’s syndicated articles and a photocopy of the final submitted version of his Harvard University undergraduate thesis, “The Meaning of History.” The articles on international affairs from 1984 to 2006 were syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and usually appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Post. The article files usually contain handwritten drafts and the published versions of the articles.

Arrangement

Series V is arranged into four subseries: PBS television series on diplomacy, Research files for books, Syndicated articles, and Undergraduate thesis.